 over the academic proficiency of the students that they're going to be testing. So I know, for example, the junior year, every high school has to test for their science. And that's not something that currently the Tech Center offers. So it becomes problematic. So some of the models I'm kind of looking for us to think about are, there's a few ways it could go. One is, we could continue to do what we do, but increase our staffing and make sure that we really are able to amp up the academics, but it's going to mean a pretty significant tuition increase. The other route we could take is we could move to a half day model where there's a level one and a level two. So maybe the seniors go in the morning, juniors go in the afternoon. They'd have half a day at their partner's school to do all of their other classes. The challenge with that model in this area is population. I'm concerned that if we divide those into two levels, we actually might be hurting our program. So I want to look at that really closely. I think the model in my mind that I want us to really think about is the model where we have the kids for four hours. And it's similar to what CBCC does. The idea would be that either in the morning or the afternoon, whichever way we wanted to plan that with the partner's schools, they would have their classes at their partner's schools and then they'd be with us for a chunk of four hours to be in their technical program. So I think the option for either half day or the four day without academics would allow us more than likely to lower our tuition because as our enrollments grow, we're actually going to be getting more money from the state. So it's a double win. So it's just something to think about as partner school folks on the board to kind of start having that conversation. And don't be afraid to email me and let me know what your thoughts are. That's all I wanted to talk about in that section. So before we move on, Jessica and do you have any questions or Meg for Felicia on what she presented? Felicia, I'm curious, is this something that you would want to roll out for the start of like fall 2022? Well, I don't think that's possible because everybody's in the process of getting their budgets approved. And my guess is this change would require potentially some additional staffing at the partner's schools. I'm not positive of that, but if it could happen for the fall of 2022 and everybody was on board, it would be amazing. But right now we've got a plan to continue to have academics through this year, this next year. Yeah, the one interesting thing, let me let this person in. The one interesting thing about it we were thinking is that the board has already kind of announced tuitions for next year. With these changes, potentially the tuition would be less. And so I don't think it's necessarily a hindrance, but we have to just check with the legal eagles and say, hey, you know, if we're past the announced tuition state, is there a way to go out and change the tuition at that point in time? Yeah, the other possibility is that we have to give back any excess money above 3% at the end of the end of the fiscal year anyway. So if we kind of overcharge them because we changed the program, you know, we could guarantee them that, you know, they would be getting and that money would be going back to me. Yeah, at the end of the year. So that it is it is possible for next year. There are just some things we'd have to check out. Jessica. Hi, everyone. Jessica Van Derren from Pain Mountain. So I guess I am curious with a proposal such as this, when would this be presented to the sending schools? Would we receive an outline so that we can bring it back to our boards and discuss or how would that work? Yeah. Right now, the tech center is in the middle of a comprehensive local needs assessment. So we're going to be sending out a full load of surveys to all of our stakeholders, which would include you all. It'll include building administration and guidance counselors. It'll include students who are not currently in technical education and those that are. So there's a variety of folks that will be surveyed through this process. And I think one of the questions I've already kind of put in that survey is which schedule is most appealing to you with the idea that, you know, every stakeholder has a different lens that they're looking through, you know, as a partner school, you're looking at how am I going to staff and you're going to be looking at how am I going to have my students proficient and, you know, busting and transportation. There's a variety of factors there, but also tuition costs is right now the way technical education is funded. It's it's challenging because it, you know, those dollars follow the child. So I do think that's going to change eventually, but right now that's the system we're in. And so, you know, those are the things, the conversations that I think every school needs to have is what's our goal here. And I think for us as a technical center, we want to be able to keep the heart of what we're there for. I think right now, to be really honest, we're pulled in so many directions that I don't think we're doing any one thing terribly well. And the one thing I really want to do well is I want kids to have those technical skills that they're supposed to walk away with and be truly proficient in them. So that's my lens and my my thoughts on it. Did I answer your question, Jessica? Yes, thank you. And Felicia, I'm sorry, I have one more question. Have you been able to successfully find that long term sub for English history and math? Okay, so funny question. So we hired someone and it didn't work out. And then we've kind of been tag teaming that class in terms of integrating academics into the programs in terms of English. Jen Joles and Jason Finley have been in there working with the kids. They did a lot of work on portfolios and writing their resumes and their about me statements. And then Jen also worked with them on an essay, a pretty large essay that they just completed in the last bit of the quarter. So I feel content that we've completed last semester with Ernest. In terms of this semester, we were still faced with the fact that we had no applicants. And so with that, we turned to BTBLC. We decided we would have the kids that needed those credits be enrolled in the, from out learning, you all know what BTBLC is, I just want to, okay. So they've enrolled in that. If they did not need additional credits, like for the English, some of them, it was able to be embedded in their program. So those changes were made. We have about eight students that need that additional English credits. So they're doing that. And we have about 38 maybe kids that need US history. So those two classes, they're doing that way. The way we started it just barely started this week. It's been a team effort between myself, Jason Finley, Jen, Dana Decker, and we've all kind of taken turns being in there with kids and working with them in the English and history classroom, you know, to be that person that's helping them to kind of stay on task and get that work done because our kids don't learn this way. This is going to be challenging. With that said, long way to get to your answer is Tuesday, I think it was, I got an application from a very qualified candidate. And we just interviewed him today. And I will be offering him the position once you get stuff in. He was great. He's local. He is interested in potentially doing like getting his licensure and doing this beyond this year. So that's pretty exciting. We also this week got a candidate to do the math long-term subbing position, who is also pretty awesome. So we're feeling a lot better today than we did a week ago. Perfect. Thank you so much, Felicia. I think you can continue with the floor as we talk about recruitment, enrollment, and retention. Absolutely. So we have 220 applications in the system, 30 of which are incomplete, meaning they started them and they did not finish them for some reason or another, or they might be a duplicate. We just this last week went through applications. We have accepted 131 kids. We have waitlisted 50 who have some growth to do this year. So we've kind of outlined in our letters the things that they need to work on this year at their partner school in order to be considered again in the spring to come to us. So I think the idea here is this benefits the partner schools as well, because these kids have a carrot dangling in front of them that they know if we say to them, your attendance is awful, you need to fix this before we talk again. My hope is that they really want to be there. They're going to work on that stuff. So hopefully it's mutually beneficial. They will also receive the appeal process with their letters so that they know what they need to do to ask for entry in the spring. We have nine applications in there that just haven't been processed. They must have come in later or we're waiting on information from a guidance counselor, etc. So we're at a total of, you know, we definitely have 131 kids, but we have the potential to be over what we can actually have at capacity. So but we're trying to make good decisions. We're trying to make sure that the kids are in the right program for the right reason. Are there any questions for Felicia on that? All right. Felicia, don't stop. Now let's talk about professional development. So we spent some time on our last in-service day working on a new mission statement, and it was a real team effort. We're pretty excited about it. I think it's more better captures kind of what we're about. And it just kind of more accurately expresses our purpose. I think that's one thing that was hard when I got this position was there was a lot of competing ideas about what our purpose was at the Technical Center. And I think even amongst our community that that's hard to know. So I feel like we've kind of gotten to a good place with that. Also, we have a climate and culture committee that has been working hard on trying to build our our culture and our climate in a positive direction. These two years have been challenging, as I know they have been in every school. So we're trying to make sure that we are taking care of our staff, making sure we're hearing them, making sure our kids are feeling secure and safe. So one of the things you'll see is we've developed some new awards. You're going to hear them on the radio after next Wednesday for quarter two. And they're also the climate and culture committee has taken over the responsibilities of planning the assemblies, which is awesome for me. And they are actually going to have the student ambassadors have a lead on that. And they're also going to have a fun day after the assembly. So it's really going to be a school-wide celebration, which I think we're pretty excited about. I've got for you on that. All right. Any questions for Felicia on any of that? Thanks, Felicia. I think that that focus on culture for the students and the staff is really important right now. And I certainly do appreciate those efforts that you're making. So thank you so much. So both Felicia and Lane, do you have anything to report out in addition to what we've heard? I think, you know, I think there's a lot of commendation that should go to Felicia and her team over the budget planning process this year. I mean, one of the reasons they're looking at potentially changing up what the day at RTCC looks like is because of concerns about, you know, climbing tuition rates. And one of the things that she's facing, she's actually in a really good spot because the enrollments are going up through the roof. The problem is it's a three-year lag time before the money from the state catches up to what our enrollments are. So, you know, next year, for example, she'll be getting funding to help her out with 128 students, but she'll probably have 150 students in programs or in excess of that. And so she's done a really good job of managing the financial aspects to keep the tuition in a reasonable rate. So just to commend her for that, the financials for RTCC look good. You know, we're looking at the December financial report that we have, so you would expect them, you know, given the way that our fiscal year and school's work, you would expect them to have spent about 50 percent of their budget, which is exactly where they're at. So they're in really good shape. So just a lot of positive. Thank you, Lane. Felicia, do you have anything additionally to bring to the group? I have kind of, it's more of a question, I guess, Ashley. I think this may be your last meeting as our board chair. And as you step down from the OSSB board and representation, I'm curious if you would consider staying on the board as one of our community members, because we do need to have three members from the community. And I think having that relationship with Gifford would be really positive. So it's more of a question for you. I would be happy to do that, Felicia. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So with that, we do have our consent agenda that has two pieces that we need to approve. One would be the minutes from November 4th. And then the other would be the approval of new members. But Felicia, who would that be? This is the group we had last time, I think, when I look at the list. Today, we're hoping to get the business and community partners in here. So I don't know if it's kind of an awkward thing, if we need to vote you back in as a member again. I'm not sure exactly how that works. Usually there's, after the typical town votes for like OSSB board members and things, the March meetings are what they call reorganizations. So typically that's when people are moving positions and what not. All right. So I think we just need to approve the minutes. Hopefully you all had a chance to review them. Are there any questions on the minutes? If not, I would love a motion to approve. I'll make sure to press. Thank you. Is there a second? Oh, I can second. Back down the board. All right. And no comments, no questions. And we'll move that forward for approval, all in favor of accepting the November 4th minutes as presented. Say, could raise your hand. Hi. Perfect. Are any opposed? All right. Robin accepted as written. Thank you very much. All right. Are there any other items to bring forward? I don't think they're in tonight. All right. Well, Jessica and Anda, thank you so much for joining us. And Felicia, keep up the great work. Robin, you as well. You guys are a great team and we appreciate everything you're doing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Bye.